Word: krzyzewski
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...early results are sterling - the team has bought into Krzyzewski's selfless, defense-first philosophy, evidenced by blowouts of China and Puerto Rico and a gritty 90-86 win over Brazil in exhibition games. The plucky ex-Army point guard from Chicago has mixed in motivational ploys - a speech by a soldier blinded in Iraq moved many players to tears - but won't overdo the rah-rah stuff. "We haven't gone on a canoe trip," quips K when asked how he has united the team. "We'll bond on the court...
...players appreciate the freedom. "There are no restraints on this team," notes Wade, another Athens vet who said then-U.S. coach Larry Brown discouraged him from scoring. "That was kind of our problem in '04 - one guy could do this, another guy couldn't." Krzyzewski's vibe has fired up the team; the practices are crisp and competitive. "I'd have our [NBA] team pay him a couple of grand to talk to us," says Brad Miller, a Team USA big man who plays for the Sacramento Kings. "The way he can connect with everybody, it's unbelievable...
...Brad, you'll have to up your ante. Krzyzewski commands up to $100,000 per speech; his name even graces an academic arm, the Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership & Ethics at Duke. All this for a guy who manages tall people in shorts? "He talks about character issues that are soulful," says Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, whose managing directors - "a pretty cynical group," Mack notes - raved about a recent Krzyzewski speech. "It's about honesty, it's about love, and often times, in the big world, you don't see many leaders get up and talk about things like...
...Excessive? Probably. And while Krzyzewski's boardroom ease wins him business praise, it makes many fellow college coaches, and the loud legion of Duke basketball haters (check out the "Anti-Duke Manifesto" on the Web. Bring a sandwich; it's nearly 6,500 words long), quite uncomfortable. During the 2005 NCAA tournament and into this year, American Express featured Krzyzewski in an ad campaign: "I look at myself as a leader who just happens to coach basketball," he says, standing in Duke's revered Cameron Indoor Stadium. Critics complained that the extra exposure is a recruiting advantage. "It's inconsequential...
...Krzyzewski says he worked behind the scenes to help the school handle the crisis. But publicly, he stayed mum, and was criticized for it. He believed that interjecting himself into the case would inflame the anti-Duke, anti-K contingent, especially at the University of North Carolina and other Atlantic Coast Conference schools. "In [the Durham] area, I am like a lighting rod for some things, because there are a lot of Carolina fans or whatever," he says in a conference room outside his Duke office, a few hours before his first address to the "K Academy," a four...